Hi there, Toi. Thank you so
much for having me today. I’d like to tell the folks about a little chat I had
with Winnie from my COD series. (Call on the Dead Club) Sometimes that woman
can be so hard to get along with. She likes to barge right in and take over my
stories.
You do know she is a
spook-speaker, right? Yeah, she had a near-death experience with a lightning
strike, received this great gift she is always complaining about, and Fat Phil
Phillips enlisted her into his club. It’s a small group, but part of a
world-wide organization. A secret one. These gifted
people took an oath to grant the deceased in a funeral home one last reasonable
request before the casket closes and they leave for the great beyond. So they
can truly rest in peace.
You’d think Winnie would
consider this an honor. But, no, not our gal.
*
I knocked on Winnie’s door.
She opened it and raised
her eyebrows at me. “What’re you doing here? Don’t you get me into enough
trouble, and now you come to my house?”
Her jeans and T-shirt were freshly
ironed, her salt and pepper curls neatly coifed so I studied my star character.
“Listen, Winnie. Let’s face it, you get yourself into more trouble than I can
ever think to write about. I try to write nice easy jobs for you, but no, you
have to go your own way. Please stop trying to outthink me.”
She crossed her thin arms
and stepped out into the sunshine. Hmm. Guess she wasn’t going to invite me in
for tea. “Well, Miz Author, if I had to wait for you to get my jobs done, you’d
write a book instead of a short story. I don’t have that much time to spare.”
“I can’t help you if you
keep taking off on your own, sort of doing your own thing. You ended up in
jail, got shot at, put Phil at terrible risk, and your friends, too. You’re not
very nice.”
She harrumphed. “I’m still
alive, aren’t I? And it’s all those unsavory characters you throw at me. Why
don’t you let me meet some nice easy-going ones occasionally? It would make my
life easier.”
“But, don’t you understand,
Winnie, that wouldn’t make for an exciting story.”
“I could do with less
excitement at my age.”
“I’ll make a deal with you.
You TRY to behave and let ME write the stories, and I’ll send you on a nice
vacation one month soon.” I gave her a sly grin.
“Promise?” She squinted her
eyes behind her glasses as if she didn’t believe me.
“Honest, I will. Maybe a
nice relaxing sea cruise. Would you enjoy that sort of vacation?”
She sighed. “You betcha.”
She glared at me again. “You really promise I can leave in a few months?”
“Oh Winnie, Winnie, would I
ever lie to you?”
Her eyes lit up. “Okay, by golly, you have a
deal. I could really use the R&R.”
I patted her back. “Of
course you can, you poor, poor dear.”
We said our goodbyes and I
walked back to my car.
Good thing she couldn’t hear me laughing all
the way home.
~Lorrie
would love to hear from her fans at struiff@msn.com. Please put “reader” in the subject
line. On behalf of Lorrie Struiff and Toi Thomas, thank you for taking the time
learn about Struiff’s writing. Be sure to get your copy of Going to a Double Header right here. Come back tomorrow to see what else Lorrie Struiff has to share. For more from Struiff,
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